the basic message #E338
5/29/05
As I reported in E337, my wife and I recently made a trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to tour the Amish country. I originally thought it was to be a simple and quiet vacation, but I realize now that it was somewhat of a pilgrimage. No, I'm not Amish, and quite frankly, I guess I'm really not connected to any formal Christian denomination. So how could it be a pilgrimage?
My Christian views have been forged and tempered over the past 10 years or so. Before I began to engage in serious Bible study, I accepted the standard party line of "saved by Grace alone", but the more Scripture I read, the more I felt that there was a bit more to the story than that. I remember the first time I was ever called a "legalist", mostly because I had never even heard the term before. A lady I worked with hung the label on me one day as we were having some discussions about Christianity, and afterwards she explained what a legalist was, I didn't know whether to be ashamed or be proud. Over the following years I still couldn't decide on proud or ashamed, but one thing was certain: I was clearly in a small minority within the church. I decided a few years ago that I would write a book about my beliefs, but only in the past year did I get serious enough to finally write, edit and have the book published. If you'd like to read it, it's called "I Never Knew You", and if you punch in the ISBN number on Barnes and Noble, you can order it (ISBN # 0-595-35154-9). I got the first copies two days before we left for Lancaster, and one of my goals was to proof-read the final copy during my spare time during the trip. As it turned out, the only "spare" time I had was sitting in the Philadelphia airport on our return trip. As I read the book, I turned to my wife and said, "I should have been promoting the book here- it falls closely in line with what the Amish believe." Please don't misunderstand- I still flew home and got into a 4500 pound Ford pickup and drove home from our local airport, so I'm clearly not Amish, but what I am is empathetic to their plight, hence, the pilgrimage.
The Amish believe in a simple life. Americans, by and large, believe that "He who dies with the most toys wins", and "Live by the Golden Rule: He who has the most gold, rules." I personally lean more to the simple life. The Amish live "off the grid", meaning they don't use electricity from the power company. Their religion prevents them from being connected to the world. Is that such a bad idea? Do we "English", as they call us, ever consider that we're slaves to the utilities and the insurance companies? We're in a quagmire that continues to get more complicated with each passing day. My homeowner's insurance now states that I'm not covered in the event of a terrorist attack. You can now buy "terrorist coverage" as well as health insurance for your dog. Go figure.
When I toured the Amish country, it bothered my wife that I would point out the seeming inconsistencies in the Amish rule system. Since she has been reading Christian romance novels for the past year, many featuring Amish people, she apparently viewed my comments as unwelcome. "If they want to be separated from the world, why can they have diesel engines running air compressors?", I opined. "If they can ride in a car as long as they don't own it, isn't that skirting the rules?", I probed. She was clearly not amused. By the time we left their beautiful countryside, I had already begun to come to their defense. "Maybe they bend the rules a little", I offered, "but one thing for sure, they still are very much separated from us."
In many ways, it must be harder to circulate in and out of the "English" world than to simply a part of an Amish only society. Can you imagine working in a shop with electricity all day only to go home to gas lights, no telephones and no TV? Even if an Amish person was able to ride in someone else's car, they still have to ride to church in their horse and buggy every two weeks to a 4 hour church service. That service, we're told, is often held in a neighbor's barn, and wooden benches are hauled to the site prior to the service. Our "English" congregations are so spoiled that most of us won't even sit in an unpadded pew, and if the thermostat isn't precisely where we want it, we might just get mad and drive home in our Hummer.
All in all, I think Amish people are far less strange than we are. One day I'll know for sure.